20120420 Arrival address

20120420 HH JAYAPATAKA SWAMI GAVE AN ARRIVAL ADDRESS IN GURUVAYOOR, INDIA

It is very common to have people say, why do you need to be so religious? Because the idea is that religion means pray for sense gratification and economic development and at the end liberation. But Lord Caitanya told us that the highest bliss is to serve Krishna. We are all part of Lord Krishna and if we please Krishna a little bit, a little bit, for us it is like a huge Tsunami of ecstasy. So we should all follow Prahlad who was chanting and crying in ecstasy. All the followers of Lord Caitanya, thousands and thousands, they got this ecstatic love for Krishna. Lord Caitanya, He came here to Kerala. Nityananda Prabhu also came here. So His dust is here on the ground. And this is the most literate state in India. So on Sunday we will be uncovering or releasing the Srimad Bhagavatam Fourth Canto. So we hope that all the devotees will read, Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam. I saw Srila Prabhupad translating his books into English. He would stay up all night and sleep only two hours and all night long he would be translating, so you could read. With great effort His Holiness Bhakti Vinod Swami maharaj is getting the books translated into Malayalam. Nanni (Thank you). So we hope that here there would be a lot of Prabhupad books read and distributed. This whole land is a holy land, Parashurama’s land and this land was created for practice of bhakti yoga. So I hope that all the devotees will talk about Krishna and Lord Caitanya. In the Nectar of Devotion, Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu, there are three stages of bhakti mentioned. Sadhana bhakti, Bhaava bhakti and Prema bhakti. That means bhakti by rules and regulations, bhakti by ecstatic devotion and the third, love of Krishna. In the first stage there are rules and regulations. There are two levels – in the first level one follows the rules according to the shaastras strictly. In the second level one thinks and plans how to improve one’s service. For example, if one is a cook, how to cook better, if you are a pujari, how to do puja better and if you are a preacher, how to preach more effectively. So like that at that stage one is thinking how to improve, how to develop. That stage is called raaganuga. When one is somewhat spontaneous and trying to do something for Krishna, better. When you practice the next stage, then you get ecstatic devotion. The ecstasy of ashta saatvika bhaava. So we want all the devotees to be advanced and taste this bliss of serving Krishna. That is the thing that ordinary people do not understand. That by serving Guruvayoor Appan Krishna, we can get spiritual happiness by pleasing Krishna. How one can be transcendental to the material happiness? Whether one is a grihastha or brahmachari, they should chant Hare Krishna. Grihe thaako, bone thaako, sadaa Hari bole dhako. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. 

Prabhupad who was so kind, that he travelled everywhere to give out the mercy. It also says that the last place He touched in India was Kerala. When he was travelling on the ship, it stopped in Cochin. He touched Cochin and then he landed in America. So there is some special message, role to play, Kerala has in the future. Yes? Haribol! Yes? Yes? Thank you! (Nanni). How do you say yes in Malayalam? Athe? Athe! I told one secret to Bir Krishna das that when I come here I would like to eat some Kerala prasad! And he already had some puttu! And with that some Kerala bananas. But now I can only eat 60 grams of grain for lunch and an apple at night. But sabzi (vegetables) there is no restriction. So that means I can take avial.  You see everything is tasty if you offer it to Krishna because then the nectar from His lips is mixed with the food. Once when Lord Caitanya in Jagannath Puri suddenly came to the house of Saarva Bhauma Bhattacharya early in the morning. On that day Saarva Bhauma Bhattacharya did not attend mangala arati. So Lord Caitanya came to see him and asked him if he was alright. Saarva Bhauma Bhattacharya said, oh, I was up late last night preaching. So Lord Caitanya said, I have brought you some maha prasadam from Lord Jagannath and He gave some cashews. I was thinking how in Kerala also they grow cashews. So Saarva Bhauma Bhattacharya, he ate the cashews. Then Lord Caitanya said, you are a smaartha brahmana. You are sitting on your bed and you didn’t brush your teeth and ate the fruit. Is this not breaking the smaartha rule? Ha! Ha! But Saarva Bhauma Bhattacharya replied, he was a pandit and gave a Sanskrit verse. Whenever we get Jagannath prasad, without considering time, place or circumstance, we should just eat it. Lord Caitanya said, now I know you are a real devotee, I was just testing you. Then Lord Caitanya gave everyone some cashew prasad. Everybody took. Then He asked, how is it? They said, oh, so nice! He said, what is this? What is this? This is a nut! How many nuts you have had in your lives? Why this nut is special? Because it was offered to Lord Krishna! And therefore it has the nectar of Krishna’s lips and that is why it is not just a nut, it is MAHAPRASAD! Haribol!

So people might say, why you should be so religious? They don’t understand how much nectar there is of talking about Krishna, and eating Krishna prasad and associating with the devotees and worshipping the Lord. This Guruvayoor is a very special Tirtha and many people come here every day. Some days there are more than others. So we hope that we can somehow give the books and give the mercy of Lord Krishna to those who visit and we get the people who visit to chant Hare Krishna. Lord Caitanya, He said three things we can do in Kali yuga. Bolo Krishna, chant the names of Lord Krishna, bhajo Krishna, worship Lord Krishna and render devotional service to Him, and koro Krishna shiksha, preach Krishna’s teachings. The Bhagavad Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna and Srimad Bhagavatam is spoken about Lord Krishna. And Lord Caitanya, He is Krishna in His most merciful aspect. Prabhupad said, how Srinivas Govinda in Tirumala, He was the avatar of the previous Kali yuga. Lord Caitanya is the avatar of this kali yuga. He came after Krishna left to give us all Krishna bhakti. So you have received this mercy of Lord Caitanya. I hope that all of you can share the mercy with others. People asked Srila Prabhupad, what they should do? He said, please be happy in Krishna consciousness and make others happy.

So on my arrival address, I spoke a lot! So I will go and take some rest and will let you all also go. Tomorrow and the next day we can expect a lot of activities. We look to Bhakti Vinod Maharaj to keep us busy. I hope there is some time to spend also with all of you. Haribol!

HH Bhakti Vinod Maharaj: We are very thankful and grateful to guru maharaj for accepting an invitation to be here with all of us and we are very happy. So happy that many devotees have assembled today and many others will join in in the next two days. Our desire is to satisfy guru maharaj’s wishes and we have understood that guru maharaj is very eager to expand the preaching in Kerala and he wants all of us to read Prabhupad’s books carefully, distribute Prabhupad’s books and be happy in Krishna consciousness so that we can attract others. Haribol! We are always desiring the mercy of guru maharaj and blessings of all the vaishnavas here and all over Kerala, so that they can always be enthused in Krishna consciousness and they can preach and bring many other separated souls back to Krishna’s lotus feet and Prabhupad’s shelter. We also want to make our Guruvayoor centre, headquarters for our preaching in Kerala and we have put a lot of energy into it and like a constipated effort, we have got very little output out of it but we hope that we would be able to ease and develop more for the satisfaction of guru maharaj. Hare Krishna! Guru maharaj ki jai!